Samoskevich soaking up Stanley Cup Playoffs learning experience with Panthers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- After scoring 15 goals as a rookie this season with the Florida Panthers, Mackie Samoskevich opened the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the second forward line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk.

Samoskevich, who was on Florida’s top power-play unit, even fed Bennett for the Panthers’ first goal of the playoffs in a 6-2 win against the host Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round.

Pretty good way to make your postseason debut.

“I can’t wait to get started,” Samoskevich said before the playoffs began.

Samoskevich’s time in the playoffs, however, turned out to be fleeting.

After playing in the first three games of the Tampa Bay series in the opening round, Samoskevich has only played one other time — more than a month ago in the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

You are not going to see him moping around the team, however.

“A little disappointed at first, but I took a step back and realized how lucky I am to be a part of this group, to be in this locker room,” a sweat-soaked Samoskevich said after another long on-ice session Wednesday afternoon.

“This is so much fun to be around, even if you’re not playing. I have to learn some things, and I think that will be good for me down the road. This is not going to be a bad thing. As much as I would like to be part of this on the ice, it is going to make me better.”

After playing around 13 minutes of Games 1 and 2 of the Lightning series, Samoskevich was limited to 9:52 in Game 3, with Evan Rodrigues moving up to the second line. Since then, except for his appearance in a 4-3 loss in Game 2 against Toronto on May 7, he's been a healthy scratch.

“He had an incredibly important year. He started on the fourth line, but that’s not his skill level, not where we see him,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “He has learned all the hard parts of the game, and some of that is sitting on the bench for blocks of time ... I think he had a wonderful year. What happened to him was, we added players at the Trade Deadline, and that just pushed players down.”

The Panthers selected Samoskevich No. 24 in the 2021 NHL Draft and he spent two seasons at the University of Michigan.

Samoskevich, 22, did not play in the playoffs for the Panthers during their run to the Stanley Cup championship last year after spending the majority of the 2023-24 season with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL.

Yet he was around the team throughout, and stayed in South Florida after most of his Charlotte teammates left near the end of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

“I have set the bar low this year, just so I can raise it,’’ Samoskevich said. “The couple of games I did play in were super valuable, and the coaching staff is doing a great job of putting on good skates. We’re getting better every day. So, it has been good.”

Geordie Kinnear, Samoskevich’s coach in Charlotte, ran Florida’s taxi squad during last year’s playoff run after Charlotte’s season ended. That included working closely, again, with Samoskevich.

Kinnear has no doubt Samoskevich is making the most of his time right now.

“The buy-in, the commitment, the great teammate he is just shows you what kind of person he is,’’ said Kinnear, whose Checkers open up the 2025 Calder Cup Final in Charlotte on Friday night.

“He watched every one of those playoff games last year, and he is going to be a big part of many more of those for the Panthers moving forward just because of who he is, how hard he works, and how much he loves the game. That’s never going to change. That’s in his DNA.”

If there is one person Samoskevich can relate to on the Panthers right now, it is forward Jonah Gadjovich.

Gadjovich played in 39 games for the Panthers last season, but did not play in a single postseason game.

Yet after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7, he was out on the ice skating around Amerant Bank Arena with the Stanley Cup.

This postseason has been much different for Gadjovich. Not only did he make his playoff debut on May 9, but he scored a goal that night in Florida’s 5-4 overtime win against the Maple Leafs in Game 3 of the second round.

Gadjovich has now become sort of a folk hero in South Florida, not because he has scored two goals with an assist in 14 playoff games, but for his energy and, well, for a big fight in the third period of Game 3 against the Oilers earlier this week.

He has been where Mackie Samoskevich is today.

“Obviously, anything can happen at any time, right? You have to stay ready to step in,” Gadjovich said. “Mackie is such an awesome guy, all the guys in this room love him. He is a great player and will be very successful. When he gets called on, he will be ready because he is a very positive guy who knows what he needs to do. He knows what we are doing is bigger than one individual. Everyone sees all the work he is putting in.”